


Percy Betrayed

by KingOMalley



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Chronicles Of Vladimir Tod - Zac Brewer
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Blood, Kronos is an asshole, Torture, character death eventually
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 15:54:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,700
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11512608
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KingOMalley/pseuds/KingOMalley
Summary: Percy was betrayed by the gods and his friends. He was tortured by Ares, then sent to Tartarus for 100 years, only 6 months on Earth. His mother sent him to Bathory to heal and there he meets Vlad. His life becomes brighter there, but one accident ends his happiness again. Chaos takes him into is army, and Percy sees people he never expected to again.//Yes, I know that's not the correct time conversion from Tartarus to Earth but I wrote this before all of that so please be kind.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own neither Percy Jackson nor Chronicles of Vladimir Todd.

Chapter One

 

**Percy’s POV**

 

I saved the gods on more than one occasion. I saved them when I stopped the three way war and returned Zeus’s lightning bolt. I saved them when I rescued Annabeth and Artemis from the Titan Atlas and returned her in time for the Winter Solstice. Then I saved them a third time when I beat Kronos and sent him into the depths of Tartarus.

 

 And yet the gods and my friends that I consider family betrayed me, accused me of helping Kronos, of just being a spy. They punished me; starting by letting Ares torture me, cause me as much pain as he wanted without anyone to stop him. They bestowed immortality on me just so I wouldn’t die.

 

And then they did something even worse. They sent me to Tartarus to be punished by Kronos, as if he deserved a reward for trying to tear down Olympus. I was down there for one hundred years (that’s only six months on Earth), being tortured in the worst ways by Kronos, in ways I can’t even talk about without reliving them.

 

And then the gods decided to release me after one hundred years of that torture and exiled me from Olympus and Camp Half-Blood, but I was broken beyond repair, and will probably never be put back together.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

My mom decided to send me to stay with the ‘son’ and uncle of a friend from high school in a small town named Bathory. It hurt that even my own mother was sending me away, even though I knew that she thought it was for the best to send me away to help me ‘recover’. I looked in the mirror in my bedroom, and winced at the scar going from my left temple, across the bridge of my nose, and to the bottom of my jaw on the right side of my face.

 

“Percy, are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” my mom asked from the door of my room.

 

“Its fine, Mom. I can go by myself,” I said, my tone indifferent. She looked worried about me, but I ignored it. My mom always looked worried about me lately. I grabbed my bags and led the way out of the apartment and to the car. I yelled my goodbye to Paul, and my mom drove me to the train station.

 

**Vlad’s POV**

 

“I can’t believe I have to live with a guy I don’t even know!” I groaned to Henry.

 

“Come on, dude. It can’t be that bad,” Henry said to me.

 

“Well, one, last time a stranger came to stay in Bathory, he tried to kill me,” I looked pointedly at Joss, “and two, imagine if it was you.”

 

“Hey!” Joss protested. “Just let it go already!” I just sighed and said, “We’ve got to pick him up from the Stokerton train station, though I don’t see why he doesn’t just take a plane. Whatever, we’ve got to pick him up in an hour, so let’s get as much video gaming in as possible,” I grinned at the last part.

 

Joss and Henry grinned right back and we played videogames for an hour until Otis stopped us. The car ride to Stokerton was filled with comfortable silence until we reached the train station. “I didn’t even know Stokerton _had_ a train station,” I said to Otis.

 

He smiled and shook his head at me, but said nothing. We walked through the station, looking for the guy named Percy. What I didn’t understand about him was why he would come across the country when he’d just been out of the country a couple of weeks before. It made no sense to me.

 

One of my theories is that he’s just a spoiled brat, but I couldn’t be sure of that. Opinions of him would have to wait until I met him. I looked around the station, searching for the guy I saw in the picture. He’d looked pretty happy in the picture, surrounded by his friends.

 

After a couple of minutes searching, I saw a guy with midnight black hair and sea green eyes that looked like Percy, but there was a scar going across his face, he was a lot paler than the picture, and had a cold expression on his face in contrast to the happy one in the picture.

 

I pointed him out to Otis and we began walking towards the teenager. I saw the teen looking at us with an emotionless gaze, and he stood up, grabbing his bags. I was surprised at how graceful and lithe he was. He almost seemed like a vampire with the way he moved, but I couldn’t sense that another vampire was around other than Otis.

 

When we met in the middle, Otis said, “You must be Percy. I’m Otis, and this is my nephew Vladimir. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Otis put his hand out to shake.

 

**Percy’s POV**

I was waiting for the guy—Otis it was—to pick me up from the train station, when I felt strange auras, kind of like the children of Hades, but not quite. I looked up and saw a man with a rumpled purple top hat and a lanky teenager that reminded me of Nico. I quickly turned away from that line of thought and stood up, wincing slightly from the pain of my still healing wounds.

 

I walked towards the two men and we met in the middle. The man with the top hat held his hand out to me and said, “You must be Percy. I’m Otis, and this is my nephew Vladimir. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” I took his hand hesitantly, still not used to friendly skin on skin contact, but my fingerless gloves limited the contact between us.

 

I tried for a smile (which was a complete failure) and said, “It’s nice to meet you.” Otis reminded me of Chiron with his seemingly ageless eyes and kind demeanor. I was still wary of the two men in front of me, and gripped Riptide in my hand (still in pen form of course).

 

Vlad smiled at me, and I didn’t bother trying to smile this time, knowing I would fail miserably anyway, and followed Otis to his car. About fifteen minutes into the car ride to Bathory, Otis asked me, “So, I heard you went out of the country for six months recently. Where did you go?”

 

“All over,” I lied. “Greece, Rome, those kinds of places.” My answer was rather vague, so Otis questioned me about the places I went, and I lied about all the details. To me it had been one hundred years and all of it in a hellhole. Once Otis realized he wouldn’t get many specific details out of me, he gave up.

 

“What’s life like in New York?” Vlad asked.

 

I flinched slightly, but neither of the people in the front seat noticed. “Easy enough as long as you’re smart. You don’t get lost all that easily because everything is close together. The only thing you have to be careful about is being out at night.”

 

I avoided their eyes, but finally looked in the rearview mirror and saw a flash of guilt in Otis’s eyes, though I wasn’t sure why he should feel guilty. I decided to ask a question of my own and said, “Have you ever been?” Usually I wouldn’t be this talkative, but I doubt they would’ve given me a choice.

 

Vlad nodded and said, “Twice.” He had this sad look on his face like he didn’t enjoy his stay there and went quiet. I didn’t bother breaking the silence and took my iPod out, putting in the ear buds and turning the volume up high. Vlad’s questions had made me remember my time at Camp Half-Blood, and I felt sadness wash over me as I remembered. It hurt to remember, it hurt just to think about them.

 

I got lost in thought, and before I knew it we were at a small, cozy looking house. I opened the door and got out of the beat up car, walking around the back and taking my bags out of the trunk. As Otis took my last bag out of the car, I glanced behind me and saw Grover trotting down the street.

 

I froze, staring, before Grover disappeared like a mirage. “Percy, are you okay?” I nodded at Otis and he led me into the house. He showed me to my room while Vlad went into the kitchen to get something to eat. I dropped my bags on the floor by the dresser and sat down on the bed.

 

‘Why did I see Grover just now?’ I thought, confused. I knew he hadn’t been there, so I didn’t understand why I saw him. ‘Maybe I’m going crazy’ I thought sarcastically. Yes, even though I’d been in Tartarus, I still retained my sarcasm, but I kept that part of me locked away.

 

I looked at Riptide in its pen-form, clutched in my right hand. Even though even my father betrayed me, I still kept the sword he gave me. It came in handy, and helped me remember the happier times. I was startled out of my thoughts by a knock on the door. It was Vlad. “You want to hang out? I’ve got some videogames, and a couple of my friends are here,” he said.

 

I was about to refuse, but then decided against it, my instincts telling me to go, so I followed him down the stairs. We reached the living room and I saw two athletic guys sitting on the couch, talking in low voices. They stopped talking when they saw me and looked slightly warily at me.

 

“This is Percy Jackson. Percy, this is Joss and Henry,” Vlad introduced. I nodded to them silently and took a seat in a leather chair by the couch. 

 

“Want to play some video games?” Vlad asked me with a grin.

 

I shook my head and said, “I haven’t played video games very often, so I’m not really interested.”

 

“Not interested in videogames? You haven’t lived,” Henry said in a mock-awed tone, and I gave a ghost of a smile.

 

“Yeah, well I’m not very good with technology. It doesn’t seem to like me,” I said sarcastically, letting some of my old self show. For the next hour I watched them play videogames. They snacked on chips and soda, but I didn’t eat anything. I didn’t join in their conversations, and they hardly noticed I was there.

 

**Vlad’s POV**

Percy gave off a weird vibe that said ‘don’t mess with me’, and I didn’t trust him. My first theory that he was a spoiled rich brat was shot down quickly. He seemed more like an emo kid. He even dressed like one. He had a black long sleeved t-shirt on, black ripped jeans, a navy blue hoodie over his shirt, black and red plaid converse, and navy blue fingerless gloves.

 

Another strange thing about him was the pen he always held. When I walked in his room, he was looking at the pen in his hand with a pained look on his face, and even while we were gaming he never put it down or in his pocket. It almost creeped me out the way he held the pen.

 

About an hour after we started playing videogames I asked him, “Why are you holding that pen?” I was only curious, but he stiffened and put the pen away in his jeans pocket.

 

“It’s just a pen,” Percy said in a guarded tone.

 

“Hey, Percy,” Henry said, “What’s with that scar on your face? Where’d you get it?”

 

‘Idiot!’ I thought, internally face-palming. ‘That’s a personal question!’

 

“I was in an accident,” he said quietly, but the look Joss was giving me confirmed that no accident could give a scar like that. It looked like someone cut it deliberately. Suddenly, I smelled blood. It wasn’t Henry’s, Joss’s, or Otis’s, so I guessed it was Percy. I frowned at him and wondered whether he was okay.

 

The scent of his blood was making me hungry, and I noticed a strange scent along with his blood that didn’t smell human. “I’m tired. I’m gonna go take a nap. I guess not sleeping for twenty hours will do that to you,” Percy said, and was shocked when he said he hadn’t slept for twenty hours.

 

Before we could say anything, he was walking up the stairs. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I said, “He isn’t normal.”

 

Joss and Henry looked like they had the same thoughts. “When you asked about the scar, he said it was in an accident, but I don’t believe that,” Joss said. “That cut looked deliberate, like someone meant to do that.”

 

“Do you think it could’ve been a vampire?” Henry asked carefully. I thought about that and said, “It’s possible, but we can’t just ask him. He’d probably just shut up like he did just now. We have to gain his trust before we find out.”

 

Joss and Henry nodded their agreement, and we started making a plan to gain his trust.

 

**Percy’s POV**

When I had been sitting down stairs one of my wounds had reopened. It wasn’t serious, but it was painful. And the questions those guys asked didn’t help my pain. If anything it just made it worse, bringing back unwanted memories. I tried to block the memory, but it came anyway.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

_I felt pain searing my body as Kronos cut deep wounds into my body. I screamed from the pain, and Kronos only laughed at my pain. He grinned sadistically and said, “I have a little surprise for you. It will be fun, trust me.”_

_He brought a silver knife to my face, dripping with green poison, and cut from my left temple to my right jaw. I could hardly stay conscious, and it took all of my will not to scream this time. Kronos didn’t like that and begun cutting through the wound over and over again until even water couldn’t heal it, just like all of my other wounds. He always made sure that the wounds scarred._

_He always made sure that I felt the worst of the pain. I lost consciousness after the tenth cut, the last thing I saw being Kronos’ cruel, cold smile and the last thing I heard being his sadistic laugh._

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

I pulled myself out of the memory, my hands shaking and I could hardly keep myself from passing out, but my curse pulled me into another horrible memory.

 

.

 

.

 

.

 

_I was standing in the middle of the Grand Hall of Olympus, waiting for the important announcement the gods had for me with all of the other campers. Finally Zeus spoke, “You have been accused of and found guilty of aiding Kronos in his war against us, the gods, along with being his spy. You have been sentenced to torture at Ares hand and you will be given immortality to ensure that you do not die.”_

_Zeus paused to let that sink in and outraged cries could be heard from the campers and some of the gods that actually liked me, meaning Hestia, Hermes, Apollo, and Artemis. I looked at my father, and saw his grim face, meaning he believed the words Zeus had spoken._

_I couldn’t believe it and turned around to see the betrayed and angry gazes of the campers. “I-I didn’t-“_

_Annabeth cut me off, “Go take the punishment you deserve, you traitor.” I was stunned and my heart shattered. Every single one of the campers gave me hate filled looks, and I glanced at Chiron helplessly. He only had a grim expression on his face, and I broke completely, everything turning black around me._

_The last thing I heard there was the hateful comments from the campers and the shouts of disagreement from the gods that liked me._

_The next time I woke up, I was inside Ares’ torture room where time would never move for me, and he proceeded to put the worst curse he could think of on me before starting the real torture._

_._

_._

_._

 

With that last memory, I passed out on my bed to a mercifully dreamless sleep.

 

**So how was that? Good? Bad? Horrifying? Let me know in the reviews and I will take requests for pairings and for things to happen in the story in the reviews or PMs. Review, PM, and let me know how it was! XD**

**Dragneellover out!!**


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

**Vlad's POV**

The next morning [Otis](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=2/#) decided it was my job to wake Percy up, but I didn't see his reasoning behind that. I guess it didn't really matter, but I was still annoyed. I walked up to Percy's door and knocked softly, "Percy?"

When he didn't answer, I twisted the knob and opened the door as quietly as I could. I was surprised to see him lying on the bed, sleeping in the same clothes as the day before. I could still smell his blood slightly, but the scent wasn't fresh. I walked over to him and shook his shoulder gently, "Percy, you've gotta wake up. Percy!"

The next thing I knew I was being pinned to the floor by Percy, who had a hand around my throat. I was stunned to say the least. Percy's eyes cleared, his eyes widening, and he got off of me quickly. "Sorry, I didn't know it was you. I guess I should've told you not to wake me up. Sorry again," he said, voice slightly guilty.

"It's alright. I wasn't hurt so it's no big deal," I said. 'How could he pin me like that? Even with my vampire strength and speed it would've been hard to get him off of me. How did he get that strong?' I thought, confusion making my thoughts jumbled. "O-oh, yeah. Breakfast is ready by the way," I mumbled.

His eyes still seemed cold and emotionless, but his face lit up. I could tell he was hungry too, by the way his [stomach](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=2/#) was [rumbling](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=2/#). "You can go ahead and take a shower, then come down and get something to eat," I said to Percy, and he nodded, grabbing some fresh clothes.

While he did that, I made my way back down stairs so I could eat the food. I was shocked when I walked in when I saw blue pancakes sitting on the table, steam rolling off of them. "What's with the blue food?" I asked.

"Percy's mother told me he likes blue food, so I decided to make him feel more at home and make some," Otis answered. I silently wondered why he would like blue food, but didn't question any further.

I sat down at the table and began to dig into the blue pancakes warily, finding that they were actually pretty good, despite the weird color. After about fifteen minutes and five pancakes, Percy came down in fresh clothes, his hair still damp. The look on his face when he saw the food was priceless.

Percy looked beyond shocked; he looked stunned by the food. Soon his face cleared up to his indifferent façade, but behind it I could see pain, though I couldn't imagine why. That seemed to be an ongoing thing with Percy; not understanding him I mean. I can't seem to understand anything he says or does, no matter how much I think about it.

**Percy's POV**

After I took a nice hot shower and washed away all of the grime of travel, I was met with the sight of blue pancakes in the kitchen. It would've been a lie to say I'd been expecting it, though I should've, knowing my mother. I quickly covered up my shock and pain behind my indifferent mask, barely maintaining it.

I sat down at the table and ate seven pancakes before coming back up for breath. I heard the front door open and Henry walked in with a grin on his face. He looked shocked for a second at the sight of blue food, and asked, "Whoa, what's with the blue food?"

Otis decided to answer the question, "Apparently Perseus here likes blue food, so I made some for him." I flinched at the use of my full name. "Perseus?" Vlad and Henry asked at the same time.

"That's my full name," I said quietly. I hated it when people used my full name; it reminded me of my old life, of when I had friends and family that I cared about and they cared about me right back.

"Isn't he from some Greek myth?" Henry asked. I tensed slightly at the sound of the word 'Greek', but relaxed and said, "Yeah, that's where I got my name." My tone was had a slight bitter edge, but it wasn't noticeable unless you were looking for it.

The ring of the doorbell interrupted whatever Otis was about to say, and he got up from the table to go answer it. A minute later, a girl with porcelain [white skin](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=2/#) and punk clothes on walked in, and her face lit up when she saw Vlad, and Vlad's did too. For some reason I was getting that weird aura from the girl too.

She spotted me and said, "You must be Percy. I'm Snow. It's nice to meet you." Snow held her hand out for me to shake, and I took it reluctantly. Fortunately, I had red fingerless gloves on, again, and that limited the contact.

Snow turned away from me to address Vlad, "Hey Vlad, do you want to go to the Crypt tonight? It's vampire night again." They gave each other a look like they knew something I didn't. "Percy, do you want to go too?" Snow asked, turning back to me.

I cocked my head to the side and thought about it for a minute before saying, "Sure. Why not?" Snow beamed at me and [started talking](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=2/#) about the Crypt and the theme for tonight, and it kind of reminded me of Annabeth and how she would always talk about architect- I interrupted that line of thought before I could get any further.

As I listened to Snow and Vlad converse I looked out the window and could've sworn I saw a shadow on it that belonged to no one, before it faded away. Before I could think too much about it, though, Otis said, "Vlad, I need to go to the school, so please take good care of our guest." Vlad nodded, and Otis left, taking his horrid top hat with him.

"I'm gonna go take a walk," I said once Otis left the house and walked out the door before anyone could protest.

**Vlad's POV**

A few minutes after Otis left, Percy said he was going for a walk, and left before any of us could protest. "I'm going to follow him. I don't want him wandering around town," I said.

"Want me to come with you?" Henry and Snow asked at the same time. I just shook my head wand went out the door, slipping my shoes on and grabbing a jacket. I started looking around town for him (which didn't take long considering how small the town was), and found him at the local park.

Percy was looking at a piece of paper with a sad and broken look on his face. It felt like I was intruding, but instead of going back to the house, I walked over and said, "What are you looking at?" Percy jumped and looked up at me.

I heard him mutter something under his breath that sounded like, "Why in Hades does he have to be so much like Nico?" before saying to me, "Nothing." He slipped the piece of paper, a picture now that I really look, into his pocket, then asked, "Why'd you follow me?"

"You could've gotten lost," I said, a bit irritated at his tone.

"In a small town like this?" I had to admit, he had a point. The town was way too small to really get lost in.

"Who was that picture of?" I asked, not really caring at the moment that I was probably digging into his personal business. "Some old friends of mine," Percy replied, tone clipped, like he was angry. But it didn't seem like he was angry with me, but his friends.

We fell into an awkward silence and I was about to leave him alone when I heard a low, guttural growl behind me in the trees. Percy's eyed snapped behind me, and looked over my shoulder but saw nothing. "What was that?" I muttered, but blew it off as a stray dog. Percy seemed to be more suspicious of the sound though and kept scanning the trees behind me.

"Must be nothing," he said under his breath, so low no normal human would be able to hear it, but with my super-vamp-hearing I could. "I'll, uh, leave you alone now," I said before walking off. I was only a few steps away when I heard the low growl again and something crashing through the trees where I had just been.

I whipped around and saw Percy stabbing a bronze sword through a huge dog, the size of a lion, and the dog turning to dust. I looked around me to see whether the other people in the park had seen that, but everyone was acting as if nothing had happened.

I looked to Percy for an answer, and noticed him looking at me with a calculating gaze, as if deciding whether he should stab me too, before he put a pen cap to the tip of the sword and it turned into the ball point pen he'd been holding the day before. "You saw that?" he asked, voice even, as if a giant dog attacking him was completely normal.

"Y-yeah. W-what was that?" I asked, my voice shaking from shock and fear. Percy didn't answer though, muttering under his breath. This time I only caught the words 'how', 'Mist', 'gods', 'kill', and 'impossible'. I repeated the question, my voice even this time.

Percy seemed to hear me this time and said, "That attack was meant for me. Apparently they want me dead now."

"Who wants you dead?" I asked. Percy didn't answer the question and instead said, "Let's go back to your house and wait for Otis, then I'll explain." He had this irritated look, like he didn't want to explain what had just happened. We walked in silence to the house, aside from the sound of our shoes scuffing against the pavement. We were a couple of minutes from the house when there were footsteps and yelling behind us.

Both of us looked back and I saw a scrawny looking teenager with a goatee (get it? Goat-ee?) yelling, "Percy, wait! We need to talk!"

"Grover?" he asked, more to himself than anyone, before his face darkened. It took me a second to recognize him from the photo I saw of Percy. The teen—Grover—finally reached us, panting and addressed Percy, "Please, listen to me-" he cut himself off with a gasp when he saw Percy.

"W-what happened to you?" he asked, apparently not aware that I was there.

**Grover's POV**

I was stunned when I saw how pale Percy was, and when I saw the scar and dark look on his face. 'This  _can't_ be Percy!' I thought, "W-what happened to you?" I managed to stutter out.

"Why does it matter to you? It's not like you cared about me in the first place," Percy said voice full of anger and betrayal. I'd never heard that tone from my best friend before, and it hurt hear it towards me.

"W-what do you mean we don't care! Of course we care about you!" I cried. "Look," I said semi-calmly, "please listen. I never believed you betrayed us. That was the rest of the camp. How could I ever believe you could do that?"

"Then why didn't you try to stop them? Why didn't you stop them from throwing me into Tartarus?!" Percy asked angrily.

"How could I? I can't go against the gods," I said quietly, my voice trembling. I could feel the tears prickling my eyes. The day we heard they were throwing him into Tartarus, I wanted to stop them, to do something about it, but I couldn't have done anything about it. I was too scared to even try.

"Wait, what are you two talking about? Are you saying you believe in Greek gods?" the pale teen next to Percy asked. He reminded me of Nico, but only in his looks. His personality seemed completely different. I'd hardly noticed he was even there. I guess I was too caught up in how different Percy was that I hadn't seen him there.

"Yes, we do," Percy said.

"Why?" the teen asked us.

"Because the gods are real," me and Percy said at the same time. I glanced at him and saw irritation written all over his face.

"I'm sorry, Percy. I should've tried to stop them, but it wouldn't have done anything," I said, getting back on the topic I was there for in the first place. "Please forgive me." I was trying my hardest not to let my tears fall, but I could already feel some rolling down my face.

Percy sighed, and it seemed as though some weight disappeared from his shoulders. "I could never stay mad at you. Especially now that I know you didn't even believe I betrayed you," he said in a gentle tone, trying to get me to stop crying.

**Percy's POV**

"I'm sorry, Percy. I should've tried to stop them, but it wouldn't have done anything. Please forgive me," Grover said pitifully in front of me, tears rolling down his face. I sighed, and knew the truth in his words. The gods wouldn't have listened to him no matter what he had to say.

I sighed and said, "I could never stay mad at you. Especially now that I know you didn't even believe I betrayed you." When I said that, it felt like a weight was taken off my shoulders and my chest felt a little lighter.

"Come on, Grover, Vlad. We need to talk-" I started saying, but was cut off when Grover glomped me, crying and blubbering about how sorry he was. After a couple of minutes Vlad and I managed to peel Grover off of me, and we made our way to the house.


	3. Chapter Three

**Percy's POV**

"S-say what?" Henry stuttered. I sighed, annoyed.

"As we've been telling you for the last half-hour," I said, irritation lacing my voice, "the Greek gods are real. They've been around for thousands of years."

"We understand," [Otis](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=4/#) said. "It's just a lot to take in. And you're one of their children?" he asked.

I flinched, but nodded. "Unfortunately," I muttered low enough so only Grover could hear. The guilt on his face was evident.

"So now," I said, leaning forward on the couch and placing my elbows on my knees, "what are you?" I nodded to Otis and Vlad, who had matching looks of shock and confusion.

"W-what do you mean?" Vlad asked.

"I mean," I said slowly, "that your auras aren't that of a regular mortal. More like a child of Hades, except there's something off about it."

"I can assure you, we're just normal . . . mortals. There is nothing strange about us. That we know of at least," Otis said. And I almost believed him, but the way Vlad relaxed when he said that, and the strange intruding feeling in my head made me believe otherwise.

"Well, if that's the case, then it must just be me," I said, trying for a smile, though I'm sure it turned out more like a grimace.

"So, um, who's your godly parent then?" Vlad asked.

"Poseidon," I said, bitterness lacing my voice. "Though it's not as if he would admit it." I didn't respond to the dubious looks, instead focusing on the forgotten glass of water on the sofa. I felt a tug in my gut and the water rose from the glass, forming a sphere in the air. A twitch of my finger and the water formed a clear [spider](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=4/#) lily in the air. I forced the molecules to compact and freeze, becoming a delicate glass-like blossom. With a small effort, I enchanted the flower to never melt or break. The spider lily gently floated down and came to rest inside the glass.

"Is that proof enough for you?" I inquired, cocking an eyebrow. When I received silence in response to my question, I spoke again. "Oh, and you can consider it a 'thank you' gift or something. It won't break or melt, so," I shrugged, "enjoy I guess."

And still I received blank looks of shock. I fingered Riptide, irritation and unease picking away at my firm mask of cool indifference. Otis was the first to break out of his stupor. "I think that is sufficient evidence. I just have one more question." I said nothing, only cocking my head to the side in question. "Vladimir mentioned a . . . a sword. May I see it?"

I hesitated for a moment, wary, but chided myself. This wasn't Tartarus. They weren't monsters—hopefully. I brought Riptide from my pocket and slid the cap off, baring its full glory to the four men. There were gasps of shock from Vlad and Henry, but otherwise no other noises in the—once again—shocked silence.

They were much quicker to get over their surprise this time around. I quickly put Riptide back away, tucking it safely away in my jeans pocket. "If you have any more questions, ask them now. I probably won't be in the mood to answer them later."

There was a small, awkward silence before someone spoke up. "Did a monster give you those scars?" Henry asked, and I winced to myself. I was hoping to avoid this line of questions.

I smiled bitterly. "Something like that," I murmured, mind flashing back to Kronos' cruel, twisted form of torture. I was glad when Vlad spoke. "So, uh, how often do you get monster attacks like that?"

I hummed in thought. "Too often," I finally said at length. "As much as I would  _love_ to continue [twenty questions](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=4/#), I need to talk to Grover. If you'll excuse me." I left without waiting for a response, making my way up to the guest room.

**-PJO-CVT-PJO-**

**Vlad's POV**

As soon as I was sure Percy and Grover were out of earshot, I turned to Otis. "Could you read his mind?" I asked, befuddled. When Otis shook his head, I sighed, running a hand through my hair. "Neither could I. It's so weird. It's like there's some sort of shield in his mind. Maybe it's because he's a . . . demigod?" I theorized.

Otis frowned in thought. "Perhaps. But it's still quite strange." Joss and Henry looked at a loss as to what to do.

"Neither of you could get a read on him?" Joss muttered, more to himself than either of us. "We need to make a plan. We don't know if we can trust him, and we don't know anything about him other than the fact that he's from New York and he's traveled to the other side of the world. Is there anything else?"

Otis looked to be in deep thought. I decided to speak up, remembering the picture I'd seen him with earlier that day. "Well, he clearly hasn't been this way forever. There's this picture of him with a bunch of other people and he looked really happy. Grover was in it, actually. He was tan in the picture, and he didn't have his scars. And it didn't seem to be taken too long ago, maybe a year at most." Joss nodded, mentally taking note of the information. Henry just frowned.

"His mother is trustworthy at the very least. Nora and she were very close, like sisters before they had to go their [separate ways](https://www.fanfiction.net/story/story_preview.php?storyid=10180365&chapter=4/#). I've also spoken to her over the phone, and there was nothing suspicious about her," Otis told us thoughtfully. "However, when I asked where Percy has been for the past months, she seemed nervous. I suspect that there's more to that than we've heard."

My mind was whirling. There was truly something strange about the son of Poseidon, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "I think we should just get to know him, learn about him. He might open up," Henry said. "I don't think he's dangerous, despite the weird scars and the pen-sword thing. I don't trust him, but I don't think he's bad either." The teen shrugged. "There's no reason to treat him like a threat." I was slightly surprised by Henry's words, but didn't show it.

Otis smiled, nodding. "I think that's a solid plan. Now, why don't I start dinner?" As though in response, my stomach growled loudly. I blushed slightly in embarrassment but pushed it back down. In my mind, I heard Otis say,  _I need to speak with you privately._

"Sure," I said, grinning. "I'll help." I turned to Joss and Henry. "You guys can play whatever. I'll be back soon." The cousins enthusiastically turned to the gaming console as I slipped into the kitchen behind Otis.

I leaned against the counter as Otis pulled raw steaks out of the refrigerator. "What did you want to talk about?" I inquired, worry pulling at me. "Is something wrong?"

The older man sighed, setting the steaks down on the counter and sighing. "I did see something in his mind, just a brief flash. It has me worried." My eyes widened in surprise, shooting up to my uncle's face.

"What did you see? Was it bad? Was it a memory?" I asked in one breath. Otis' lips twitched up in a semi-smile for a moment, but quickly returned to a worried frown.

"It was a memory, yes, though I'm not sure how old," the vampire murmured. The concern in his voice put me in a slight panic. He hadn't sounded this worried in a long time. "And yes, I would describe it as bad, although that might be a bit mellow for what I saw. Percy . . . was being tortured." My breath hitched in shock. Out of all the things that had been running through my mind, that hadn't been one of them. "The man-no,  _thing_ torturing that poor boy was more cruel than anything I've seen. He relished in every scream and every beg passing Percy's lips. The memory only lasted a couple of seconds before I was blocked but," Otis shuddered, "his fear was palpable, and his pain. I don't want to know what else that young man has been through."

I swallowed thickly, unsure what to do. Otis looked like he wanted to drown himself in alcohol, as though it was his fault for all the pain Percy had been through. Suddenly Otis began speaking again, "And the worst part? The monster that tormented him was calling him a  _traitor._ When he said that, it was like Percy's heart was being ripped out of his chest. I almost thought it truly was."

"Fuck," I whispered, not sure what else I could say. Otis didn't even reprimand me for language. I took a deep breath, closing my eyes for a moment. When I opened them, I said, "Let's make dinner. Otherwise Joss and Henry will start getting suspicious." As I said this I heard a thump at the kitchen door and cursing. I snorted in surprise as the two mentioned fell through onto the floor in a heap.

I helped them up after recovering from my bewilderment. Otis was frowning disapprovingly at them but said nothing, only crossing his arms. I was the first to break the silence. "So you two know everything then." It was a statement rather than a question. "It was probably inevitable anyway," I remarked. Instead of pointing out the elephant in the room, I spoke again. "Let's make dinner. I'm starving."


End file.
